“Your call is important to us. Please hold while we reroute your reality through several unstable dimensions.”
Facebook 11th May 2025.
The illustration features a black-and-white, hand-drawn style reminiscent of Victorian-era etchings or woodcuts, set against a sepia-toned background.
The central figure is a stern-looking man with a large, handlebar moustache, dressed in a long, high-collared coat cinched with a belt. He has a complex, steampunk-style mechanical arm, complete with gears and articulated fingers, on his left side. He is wearing large, industrial-looking headphones connected by a series of pipes and wires that run down his back. A circular mechanical device with a gear and a pressure gauge is attached to the front of his coat.
The background is a chaotic and industrialised cityscape with numerous factory smokestacks and a thick plume of smoke filling the sky. There are also flames and smoke rising from a few buildings, giving the impression of a disaster or a very polluted atmosphere.
The text at the bottom, in a bold, capitalised font, reads “REALITY CALLED. I PUT IT ON HOLD.”
The meaning of the meme is to humorously express a refusal to deal with the problems or responsibilities of daily life. The steampunk aesthetic and the man’s stoic demeanour contrast with the chaotic background, suggesting that he is deliberately ignoring or shutting out the messy, overwhelming reality around him. The addition of the post caption “Your call is important to us. Please hold while we reroute your reality through several unstable dimensions” further emphasises this idea, treating the concept of “reality” like an unwanted phone call that is being deliberately delayed and complicated.
